Cut. It. Out.—There’s A Lot More To This Story
Dave Coulier will always be Joey Gladstone to millions of Full House fans, but the role captures only part of his story. His career has also included stand-up, animation, hosting, directing, podcasting, aviation, reality TV, and some striking personal reinventions.
Screenshot from Full House, Disney+
Detroit Made Him A Comic First
Coulier grew up in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, where he began developing impressions while still young. By high school, he was already performing comedy and sharpening the mimicry that would later become one of his professional trademarks.
Hockey Was Almost A Second Language
Comedy was not Coulier’s only obsession. He played varsity hockey at Notre Dame High School in Harper Woods and remained devoted to the sport as an adult, later participating in celebrity games and maintaining close ties to Detroit hockey.
His Voices Became His Secret Weapon
Coulier loved cartoons and discovered he could imitate voices convincingly. After moving to Los Angeles, voice-over work became especially valuable because it let him remain near auditions instead of spending most of the year touring as a stand-up.
The Comedy Store Became His Training Ground
In Los Angeles, Coulier initially worked as a doorman at the Comedy Store before becoming a performer there. The club gave him stage time and put him around other comics while he refined his impressions and characters.
Bob Saget Came Before The Tanner Family
Coulier first met Bob Saget while still a teenage comic in Detroit. After Coulier moved to Los Angeles, Saget offered him a place to stay, beginning a friendship that existed years before either man joined Full House.
Behind The Velvet Rope TV, Wikimedia Commons
Then Real Life Practically Wrote Full House
The coincidence later became hard to miss. Coulier had slept on Saget’s couch in real life, then landed a sitcom in which Joey moved into Danny Tanner’s home and became part of his household.
![titled: [Bob Saget, Rolland Smith, Mariette Hartley, Mark McEwen, CBS Morning Program]](https://www.factinate.com/storage/app/media/theshot/2026/9/16/1789565040b2b502f428cbda40b95fcbc21f7c207a310c565b.jpg)
Bernard Gotfryd, Wikimedia Commons
Nickelodeon Gave Him An Early TV Home
Before Joey, Coulier hosted Nickelodeon’s Out of Control. The sketch-comedy series let him use physical comedy, voices, and recurring bits that would feel familiar when he later became a network sitcom regular.
Screenshot from Out of Control, Nickelodeon (1984-1985)
“Cut It Out” Was Borrowed From A Friend
Coulier has credited longtime friend Mark Cendrowski with originating the “cut it out” bit. Coulier used it on Out of Control and later brought it to Full House, where it became permanently associated with Joey.
Screenshot from Full House, Warner Bros. (1987-1995)
Jim Henson’s Muppets Came Calling
Coulier joined the voice cast of Muppet Babies, including as Animal after Howie Mandel left the series. He has described the Jim Henson-associated production as a career highlight and fondly recalled its energetic recording sessions.
Screenshot from Muppet Babies, Jim Henson Productions (1984–1991)
He Also Became A Ghostbuster
His animation résumé grew with The Real Ghostbusters, where he voiced Peter Venkman. Long before audiences recognized his face everywhere, Coulier had already built a substantial career playing characters viewers often heard without ever seeing him.
Screenshot from The Real Ghostbusters, ABC (1987-1991)
Saturday Night Live Nearly Changed Everything
Coulier has said he screen-tested for Saturday Night Live and thought he had a place on the show. The opportunity disappeared when executives decided he and Dana Carvey were too similar.
Losing SNL Opened Another Door
That rejection created one of Coulier’s biggest career what-ifs. He has said that about six months later he read the Full House pilot, a job he likely could not have taken had SNL worked out.
Screenshot from Full House, ABC (1987-1995)
The Original Danny Tanner Was Someone Else
Full House itself had an unusual beginning. Coulier and John Stamos filmed the original pilot with John Posey as Danny Tanner before Bob Saget became available and the role was recast.
Joey Gladstone Was Basically Dave
The line between Coulier and Joey was unusually thin. Joey was a stand-up comedian who performed impressions and loved cartoons, while Coulier was doing much the same off-camera, a similarity noticed even during the show’s original run.
Screenshot from Full House, ABC (1987-1995)
Full House Lasted Eight Seasons
Coulier remained with the ABC sitcom from 1987 through 1995. By the end, Joey’s voices, hockey enthusiasm, Mr. Woodchuck puppet, and catchphrases had made Coulier inseparable from the character for a generation of viewers.
Screenshot from Full House, Warner Bros. (1987-1995)
He Was Hosting Another Show At The Same Time
During the Full House years, Coulier also hosted America’s Funniest People. His official biography lists it among several hosting jobs, showing how busy his television schedule became while Joey was making him famous.
Screenshot from America's Funniest People, ABC (1990 - 1994)
Eventually, He Hit A Wall
Coulier later said the workload caught up with him. After years of sitcom work, voice acting, hosting, stand-up, and fatherhood, he became burned out and stepped away from stand-up for a period after Full House ended.
Screenshot from Full House, ABC (1987-1995)
The Alanis Morissette Mystery Would Not Go Away
Coulier’s former relationship with Alanis Morissette fueled the long-running theory that “You Oughta Know” was about him. Coulier has discussed recognizing personal details in her music, but Morissette has never publicly confirmed the song’s subject.
livepict.com, Wikimedia Commons
Reality TV Got Truly Surreal
Coulier later appeared on The Surreal Life with an eclectic celebrity cast. Years afterward, he joked that watching an unauthorized Full House dramatization somehow felt even stranger than living inside the famously odd reality show.
Screenshot from Full House, ABC (1987-1995)
Figure Skating Humbled The Hockey Guy
In 2006, Coulier competed on Skating with Celebrities alongside Olympic medalist Nancy Kerrigan. Despite his hockey experience, he admitted figure skating was a completely different challenge and said it gave him new respect for the sport.
Flying Was More Than A Hobby
Coulier is also a pilot. He told the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association that he began flight training at 17, later earned an instrument rating, and once flew in an F-18 with the Blue Angels.
Melissa Bring Became His Partner
In 2014, Coulier married photographer Melissa Bring in Montana. Full House friends including John Stamos, Candace Cameron Bure, and Andrea Barber attended, another sign that many relationships from the sitcom endured off-screen.
Joey Eventually Walked Back Through The Door
When Netflix launched Fuller House in 2016, Coulier returned as Joey alongside other original cast members. The revival let him revisit the character decades later while a younger generation of the Tanner family moved forward.
Screenshot from Fuller House, Netflix (2016 -2020)
This Time, He Also Directed
Coulier’s involvement extended behind the camera. His official biography says he directed multiple Fuller House episodes, including “The Prom,” adding directing to his long list of jobs within the franchise that made him famous.
He Turned Nostalgia Into A Podcast
In 2023, Coulier launched Full House Rewind, revisiting episodes and sharing memories with guests. The project became another way to explore the show’s history while preserving stories about colleagues, especially his longtime friend Bob Saget.
He Found Another Sitcom After All
Coulier starred in and executive-produced Live+Local, a 2022 Pure Flix comedy set at a Christian radio station. He played veteran radio personality Tommy, proving his sitcom career did not end with the Tanner family.
Sobriety Changed The Next Chapter
Coulier has written openly about quitting the bottle at the beginning of 2020 after recognizing that drinking had become destructive. He later credited sobriety with helping him process profound losses, including Saget’s passing and losses within his family.
Two Cancer Diagnoses Tested Him Again
Coulier disclosed stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2024 and later an unrelated cancer at the base of his tongue. By February 2026, he said both were in remission, and he has continued urging people to prioritize screenings and checkups.
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